David Steel: MP's assault on lads in Rochdale

by Brian Bamford

LORD Steel, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, has today been suspended by the party owing to his admission made to a child abuse inquiry about how he handled allegations about the late Rochdale MP Cyril Smith in 1979.

Yesterday the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) heard that no formal inquiry was held by the Lib Dem party into the claims against Smith, which were investigated by the police in  1969 but no prosecution was ever brought.

Addressing the the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday (13 March), Lord Steel said he discussed the allegations with Smith in 1979, after reading a report claiming Smith had abused boys at Rochdale’s Cambridge House Hostel when he was a Labour MP.
Lord Steel said:  'What I said to him was, "What's all this about you in Private Eye?", and he said, rather to my surprise, "It is correct", that he had been in charge of - or had some supervisory role in a children's hostel, that he'd been investigated by the police, and that they had taken no further action, and that was the end of the story.'

[Editor:  Lord Steel is wrong in describing Cambridge House as a 'children's hostel'; it was in fact hostel for teenage lads of working age]

At the time he was abusing his powers over the lads at Cambridge House, Cyril Smith had also been serving as a prominent and influential Labour councillor in Rochdale in the 1960s before later becoming the Liberal and then Liberal Democrat MP for the town between 1972 and 1992.

Labour Councilor assaulted lads at Cambridge House

The claims that Smith had abused his powers by inflicting corporal punishment upon some teenage lads at Cambridge House Hostel in the 1960s innitially appeared in the monthly paper Rochdale's Alternative Paper in May 1979, and these claims were later given national prominence in Private Eye.  In 2012, these allegations  got extensive media coverage after Northern Voices and John Walker former editor of RAP, and Paul Waugh of the Politics Home website, prevailed upon the then Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk to include Smith's activities at Cambridge House in his planned parliamentary speech on the sexual grooming of young girls.


Lord Steel also described how he recommended Smith for a knighthood in 1988 and said that he did not pass on any allegations about the sexual abuse of children because 'I was not aware of any such allegations other than the matter referred to…which appeared to have been fully investigated'.
And he said it had not occurred to him that children could still have been at risk from Smith.

'He admitted to me that the report was correct in that he had been investigated by the police at the time and no action taken against him.
'I had already told the inquiry in writing that in my opinion he had been abusing his position in Rochdale Council [that is to gain access to council-run children's homes], but that had been properly a matter for the police and the council, and not for me as he was neither an MP nor even a member of the Liberal Party at the time.
'I was in no position to re-open the investigation.'

 Lord Steel also described recommending Smith for a knighthood in 1988 and said he did not pass on any allegations about the sexual abuse of children because 'I was not aware of any such allegations other than the matter referred to…which appeared to have been fully investigated.'

The allegations that appeared in RAP and Private Eye in 1979, to which Lord Steel appears to be refering to, focused on claims of assault against the lads at Cambridge House rarther than the sexual matters that have been more recently developed in relation to Knowl View.

Lord Steel's nomination of Cyril Smith for Knighthood

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon commenting on the media reporting of the Inquiry, Lord Steel said::  'I am reinforced in my view by reading the previous report of the inquiry sent to me today, which says inter alia 'the Crown Prosecution Service found that the advice which had previously been given could not be faulted (given the law and guidance in place at the time)' and that the honours scrutiny committee had seriously considered his nomination for a knighthood and sent a 'warning of risk' letter to Margaret Thatcher as PM, and that 'clearly she took a similar view' as he was granted the knighthood.
'It is unfortunate that some sections of the media have chosen to extract certain passages of evidence and present them without the full context.
'The inquiry has a serious and sensitive job to undertake and spinning evidence to generate sensationalist headlines only serves to distract from panel's search of the truth.'
 
Lord Steel became the Liberal MP for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles in 1965, and became the party's leader in 1976 after the resignation of Jeremy Thorpe, who later stood trial on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder.

He was elected as an MSP when the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999, and was appointed as the parliament's first presiding officer.  He has been a life peer in the House of Lords since 1997.

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Rochdale's United Party or Labour Party Gulag?

by Les May

'WE are a very united party in Rochdale and have been for a number of years now … ', were Simon Danczuk's words in an article by Paul Waugh carried by the Huffington Post a few days ago.  So how was this marvellous unity achieved then Simon?  And if the local party is so united why did council leader Richard Farnell have to warn Labour councillors in October not to criticise Mr Danczuk on social media.

Private Eye's HP Sauce column recently carried an article reminding the world that while Simon Danczuk likes to posture as a 'Labour Rebel' ever in danger of being booted out of the party, his own record in accepting dissenting voices in the Rochdale Constituency Labour party leaves rather a lot to be desired.

As the Eye pointed out in 2009 he complained that seven members of Rochdale Labour Party had undermined him in seeking an investigation into his conduct towards his then partner Karen Burke during a holiday in Spain. Of these five were expelled and two suspended.

But the quest to get rid of dissenter's didn't stop there.  In December 2011, Danczuk wrote to the then Labour Leader Colin Lambert, who was himself later ousted after delivering a stunning Labour victory at the council elections in 2014, and himself the victim of a smear campaign in 2012, complaining about Councillor Farooq Ahmed the cabinet member for finance.

Danczuk is reported to have said:
'I supplied a letter to the council leader on December 19 about a variety of issues relating to Councillor Ahmed's behaviour.
'When serious concerns about a councillor's conduct are brought to my attention, no matter what party they belong to, it is my duty to ensure that action is taken.
'I am disappointed the council leader has dithered and has been indecisive but I am pleased the group nationally has acted.'
Note the word 'dithered' here. Danczuk clearly expects everyone to immediately dance to his tune. When Colin Lambert did not do what Danczuk expected he took his complaint to the national party claiming he 'had a duty' to ensure action was taken.  Note also the similarity between this and Danczuk's attack on Ed Milliband for failing to suspend Janner on his say so.
In an interview reported in the Manchester Evening News Councillor Ahmed said:
'I have decided to step down from council due to continuous attacks, false allegations targeted to my professional and private life channelled by Mr Danczuk.'
Councillor Ahmed seems to have had the overwhelming support of Labour group and later reversed his decision.
In the subsequent investigation Councillor Ahmed was completely exonerated, but the damage to his reputation and standing in the community had already been done.
Now the interesting thing about the media reports of this spat is that they start to appear on or after 10 January 2012.  This was the day a commercial media company, CavendishPressAgency uploaded a video to YouTube with the title 'Pot-ted! Labour boss quits over "cannabis film". '
How this video clip came into the hands of CavendishPressAgency we do not know but Farooq Ahmed is on record as saying that the sudden emergence of the video was part of a 'smear campaign orchestrated by Simon Danczuk.'
Interviewed by New Statesman Chris Mullins said:
'Now collaborating with the nastier elements of the Murdoch press to do down the party is quite a high crime in my book, and if I was in Simon Danczuk’s CLP, I would certainly be sharpening my sword. He might well go away to Ukip or somewhere in the end, but good riddance to him, I say.'
Richard Farnell's writ runs only so far.  He may be able to control any anti-Danczuk stirrings in the hearts of Labour councillors.  But there are some party members who are wondering if Danczuk
should be in the Labour party at all.  They may well be emboldened by the fact that Danczuk's record of bringing the party into disrepute is being added to by every article he writes for the Mail on Sunday, so he would look like a hypocrite if he claimed that any dissenting voices were doing just that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/04/simon-danczuk-hits-back-a_n_8470872.html

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/98697/labour-councillors-warned-not-to-criticise-simon-danczuk

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news/29600/former-mayor-threatens-to-quit-labour-party

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/whitewash-claims-as-party-expels-five-930407

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/will-labour-suspend-mr-damczuk.html

http://danczuk.tripod.com/domestic-behaviour.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3157459/Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse.html

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/danczuks-victim-of-2009-breaks-silence.html

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/colin-lambert-brands-labour-bullies.html

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/orginal-source-for-story-of-dodgy-e-mail.html

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/98147/former-danczuk-spin-doctor-matt-baker-accused-of-vile-attack-and-smear-campaign

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/22/labour-lord-janner-danczuk-miliband

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/rochdale-councillor-farooq-ahmed-to-resign-679314

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16510098

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBcxZIWltJA

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/66932/councillor-farooq-ahmed-reinstated

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2015/11/chris-mullin-i-think-there-are-one-or-two-people-who-are-riding-fall

Danczuk's Frolics with the 4th International

WHEN Simon Danczuk launched his book 'Smile for the Camera' (co-authored by Matthew Baker)  at Danczuk's Deli in April 2014, one of the people he quickly praised was Stefan Cholewka.  He said that he had known of Cyril's shortcomings for a quite a while through talking 'to Stefan'.  When the matter of the book by Simon and Matthew Baker was later discussed after I brought it up at a meeting of the Greater Manchester County Association of TUCs (GMCA TUCs) in 2014, the Secretary of the GMCA TUCs Stefan quickly praised the book saying that he had read it, and that it showed that  Cyril Smith had been 'cottaging', that is picking up young boys in Gent's urinals.  Neither Stefan or Simon Danczuk at these events gave any credit to the editors of the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP), David Bartlett or John Walker who originally outed Cyril in May 1979; or the Westminster Blogger, Paul Waugh of the Politics Home Website who supplied information for Mr. Danczuk to make his speech to the House of Commons on the 13th, November 2012; or Northern Voices, which with John Walker made contact with two of the victims at Cambridge House - Edward Shorrock in Nelson, Lancashire, and Barry Fitton now in Amsterdam:  Danczuk though did acknowledge John Walker and David Bartlett in the book.

Yesterday, there was an article on Rochdale Online commenting on a paid column from Simon Danczuk in the Daily Mail complained of Mr. Danczuk 'Doing the Tories dirty work for them, undermining the Labour leader' and pointed to what seems to be the hypocrisy of Mr. Danczuk:                                                                        
'Danczuk rants about the 'hard left', conveniently forgetting a member of his campaign team in the 2010 general election was Stefan Chowleka, a Trotskyist "hard left" Labour member.'  
In what appeared to be an editorial the writer continues:
'Danczuks smear tactics are very familiar to those who have disagreed with him in Rochdale, his "modus operandi" is to ruthlessly assassinate their characters.  Not for nothing is he known locally as "Slyman" Danczuk.'
The case of Stefan Cholewka is interesting in a post on the Rochdale Alternative Website [RAW]  (not to be confused with the Rochdale Alternative Paper [RAP] that ceased Publication in the early 1980s) on the 26th, October 2009, someone called 'Stiff One Cholewka' wrote:  'If they're his friends I'm a Danczukite.'
Mr. Cholewka is listed on Wikipedia as being part of what George Orwell may have called a 'smelly little orthodoxy', which seeks to penetrate and influence the Labour Party from within, Wikipedia says:
'Today, this grouping is led by Stefan Cholewka [29], a Labour Party member in Rochdale. The British Section of the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International[30] [31] is a small group which occasionally publishes Workers' Unity and The Link.'
No doubt this group is so small and ineffectual that it has never warranted exclusion from the party, yet all this is in the public domain and Simon Danczuk must know about the kind of company he is keeping in the Rochdale Labour Party.
When Stefan, editor of The Link, proudly proclaimed on RAW: 'I'm a Danczukite' in October 2009, the Rochdale Labour Party was about to experience a purge of the membership as a consequence of a complaint from Simon Danczuk.  The outline to the case is given below, and Northern Voices understands that Mr. Stefan Cholewka was a witness against the defendants, and Anna Hutchingson, Regional Director of the Labour Party based in Warrington, was prosecuting the case. 
On the 22nd, October 2015, ROCHDALE ONLINE reported:'It is over six years since Rochdale Labour Party suspended two and expelled five of its members. In the light of the recent actions, comments and newspaper articles by Rochdale's MP Simon Danczuk, we feel that it is the appropriate time to speak out on events then and now.
'In September 2009 seven members of Rochdale Labour Party (RLP) were brought before the Labour Party National Constitutional Committee (NCC) to be disciplined for breaking party rules. The seven longstanding active members were asked to attend a hearing at the Broadfield Hotel.
'The main charge against all but one member was that they wrote a letter to the Rochdale Observer asking for the Party to investigate a domestic incident in Spain between Simon Danczuk and his then girlfriend Karen Burke. The matter was exposed in two angry emails sent by Karen Burke's brother, Steven.
'The North West Region of the Labour Party presented the case even though Simon Danczuk was the subject of the incident, which members asked to be properly investigated. At the time Simon Danczuk was on the ruling body of the North West Regional Labour Party.
'The investigation was reported on by Rochdale Online, who had access to the emails and other information from the hearing.'
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/29680/labour-discipline-panel-decides-there-is-a-case-to-answer
A national newspaper (Mail on Sunday) has since published details of the holiday incident.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3157459/Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse.html

Satanic Scandal comes back to haunt Middleton

THIS last week's revelations by Northern Voices, Paul Waugh and Simon Danczuk have not just hit Rochdale, but the 1990's Satanic scandal in Middleton has come again to the surface in the claims of the culture of 'cover-up'.   The people of nearby Middleton have been reminded of the time police alighted on homes on the Langley estate in the 1990s to snatch children from their families who were falsely being accused of Satanic abuse.  In all 21 children were taken from poor working-class homes in the early 1990 by police and social workers.

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, now claims that there was a cover-up and newspapers like the Middleton Guardian had to fight a gagging order which led to a long legal fight that cost £120,000.  In the end the paper won, but it took until 2006, 16-years after the first lot of kids were taken away, before the Middleton Guardian could give an account of the dodgy 'interview techniques (that) led social workers to suspect parents were engaging their children in Satanic Abuse rituals'.  According to the Guardian:  'No evidence of Satanic abuse has been revealed and their harrowing ordeals led to some of them being kept in care for up to 10 years.' 

The identities of the children and the social workers were only brought out after a legal challenge kicked-off against an injunction which gagged the media after the case got going.  This case demonstrated the crazy nature of some aspect of the theory of social work.